Venus Blooming in Bloodshed
by Sarudoshi
Summary: 'vampires kill... we're not human, our humanity should've died the night we were made into these damnable creatures that we are now...' [rated for language mostly and some smut. read/review please!]
1. Newborn Moon

Ana von T belongs to me; i don't own the vamp crew, sad to say.

* * *

Her brow furrowed.

Silver eyes sparing the dying mortal one final ogling, she turned away to step onto the porch with quiet steps, sliding the silver lighter from her coat pocket and drawing a thin roll of tobacco from between the fingers of her right hand, she lit the cigarette and watched the embers burn as smoke rose up when she inhaled.

She didn't understand why he had done what he'd done… Or rather, she **chose** not to understand.

Having lived and bickered with him for over a decade gave her some insight into how his selfish mind worked: his reasons for different situations varied, she would say that much, so his reason for this situation was something she could already hear passing his lips.

He did it because he was lonely, he did it because he needed somewhere to sleep safely when morning would come, or he did it because his father needed tending to, and to be tended to by someone who actually knew what the hell they were doing in regards to taking care of a blind and dying old sod like the Marquis de Lioncourt.

She passed the study where a head of blonde was perusing through the various legal papers that littered the desktop he was poured over; pursing her lips, she slipped into the room and drew up to his side, practically smelling the greed that threatened to spill over from his gray eyes scanning through the signatures scrawled on the deeds and official papers from the state of Louisiana.

"Your impatience knows no bounds." She murmured, placing her hands on the top of the chair's back.

Smirking a little, he glanced up at her with one eye. "Me doth think the lady protests too much," he remarked calmly.

She rolled her eyes, folding her arms across the top of the chair, resting her chin on her crossed arms. "Git, using Shakespeare to patronize me." She chided.

The blonde shook his head knowingly, returning his attention to the deeds of the plantation. "Fascinating one, isn't he?" He wondered.

She took a generous drag from her cigarette. "He surely is a handsome one, I'll give you that. Of course I figured why you decided to make him, though, aside from the fact of his beauty." She hummed as she retracted from the chair to turn and look at the books in the shelf facing her, blowing smoke from between her lips.

"And what conclusion did you reach?" He cocked a brow.

She gestured to the papers he had been examining. "That, for starters, and then because you needed a place to put your father so he wouldn't be dead just yet as well as figure out through his addled mind that his only son is… un-living. How am I doing, so far?" She asked with a cheeky look.

He made a face and began to fire a remark before both vampires heard the third member of their newly-established coven hurry inside. "You're a rich man," he called leisurely, passing off the new fledgling's haste as if it were nothing, turning his attention to the papers.

"Something's happening to me!" The black-haired vampire exclaimed, earning a brief look from her as she was busy running her fingertips over the spines of the books on the shelf.

He rolled his eyes at his dramatics. "You're just dying, that's all. Don't you have any oil lanterns? All this money laying about and you can't even afford whale-oil… Bring me a lantern." He brushed it off with ease, making a mental note that he owed his companion a small debt for the bet they'd struck the night prior.

"Dying, I'm dying!" He insisted.

"_Merde_, it's something you'll get over by tomorrow night. You'll wake the slaves if you keep barking," she chided gently, looking over at him from having started reading through '_King Lear_', silver eyes catching his bright green orbs and holding them in her gaze.

Seeming surprised that there was a female just like what he had become, what the unhelpful blonde Lestat was, present in the room, his eyes widened a little. "How would you..?" He began.

Her face softened in something like sympathy as she marked her place in the book and closed it quietly, holding it to her chest. "Believe me when I say that it happens to everyone, and I mean everyone." She mused quietly, plucking the cigarette from the corner of her mouth to blow a wisp of smoke. "Sorry for startling you. Obviously this overgrown _imbécile_ git failed to mention that I was traveling with him." She jabbed a thumb over at the blonde that currently sported a pulsing vein on his temple.

"I didn't forget, I simply didn't feel the need to introduce you just yet," he rebutted coolly from having found the lantern and now lighting it, sensing she made a face but deciding not to look, missing the pout that crossed her full lips.

She rolled her eyes and briefly contemplated kicking him out of his coffin when dawn came, looking to the newborn and smiling kindly. "Regardless, you must be Louis; Lestat's mentioned so much about you." She saw said blonde's ears twitch at the mention out of the corner of her eye. "My name's Ana. Ana von Tristainia." She smiled again.

He nodded and his lip twitched into a slight smile at seeing a hint of kindness come from what seemed the better half of the blonde devil. Now that he got a good look at her, she did look a lot like him, save that she was a woman and her eyes were silver, her tousled black hair pulled loosely into a low ponytail tied by a red ribbon…

"For the love of hell!" Lestat exclaimed, making him jump and earning a look from his companion that was noting the dying cigarette between the index and middle fingers of her left hand. "Do you realize that I haven't made provisions for you? What a fool I am," he seemed to inwardly kick himself for not thinking ahead.

_Yes you are_, Louis deadpanned; Ana coughed on the smoke and covered her mouth to hide a giggle at hearing his mental remark, opening the Shakespeare book and pretending to become highly interested in the first act she'd read through, ignoring the quizzical expression that crossed her newborn brother's face at hearing her giggle.

_I'll explain it later, love_, her calm voice sounded inside his head, deepening the quizzical look on his handsome face; he glanced at her to see she winked.

"Better yet, you can have Ana's coffin! She normally doesn't sleep in it anyway, so to speak… You wouldn't mind that, would you, dearest?" Again his attention was diverted, making both fledglings blink.

She growled slightly in annoyance before looking at him and smiling sheepishly. "It's perfectly fine if you take it, Louis; I don't mind." _I'll just bar Lestat out of his_, she thought, meeting his green eyes.

Lestat smirked. "Then it's settled," he hummed lightly, turning to go tend to his father before going to sleep.

Ana stuck her tongue out after him, snorting in an un-ladylike manner. "Hell-spawn bastard." She murmured, closing the book once more and pulling the dead cigarette from between her teeth, leaving the room to go dispose of it outside on the porch.

Louis followed, "Do you really not mind my uprooting you from your coffin?" He wondered behind her as she dropped the cigarette to the wooden floor and stomped on it with her boot, crushing the embers.

"I hardly use it, anyway; Lestat always insists that I sleep with him in his own coffin, he's been that way for a few years." Her heel rubbed into the crushed cylinder as she kept the book tucked under her right arm.

He nodded and smiled slightly, sympathetic. "He is rather insufferable, isn't he?" He muttered, hearing her chuckle softly. "Ana, I was going to ask, how did you know…?" He lifted a thin brow.

"How I could hear what you were thinking? It's something I was given when I was turned, a few decades ago. Lestat said it was something he had, as well; it's kind of a basic gift for most vampires when they're "born". Along with other telepathic gifts. But that's another story." She shrugged innocently. "_Comprendre_?" She wondered, looking up at him.

Louis nodded again, vaguely wondering what other tricks she had up her sleeve, his new "sister", as an ear twitched when he heard Lestat speaking to his father from inside the confines of the house. "I doubt most vampires are like him," he mused, indicating the blonde.

"Not as far as I know. I've hardly seen many different vampires, really. It's mostly been Lestat and I." Ana murmured thoughtfully, smiling a little.

"Surely he must not have been this… well, you know." He tilted his head to the side.

She smiled again at the cute expression. "He was always lively and vain as he is now, but he was a different man when we met. I guess we behaved as lovers do, those first few years after he made me. Though this little issue with his father has made that part of him fade almost completely. He doesn't show it, but he despises his father; for what reason, I haven't the foggiest. He doesn't talk much about his mum…" She trailed off as she seemed to recall some memory he wasn't allowed to see.

He nodded as both of them perked their ears when hearing said blonde having a shouting match with his father.

"_Salaud_," she growled under her breath, striding past him back inside down the hall to the old man's room before he tailed her swiftly. "Let him be, will you? For once." She scolded the blonde, whacking the back of his head reproachfully.

His father began to whine again as he turned an annoyed gray eye on her, rubbing his head gingerly; she crossed her arms and held his stare.

"_He has very important errands to attend to in the morning, Milord, so please forgive his rude behavior_." She spoke around him in a softened French tongue, slightly irking the observant fledgling hanging back by the door as she smiled sweetly at his father.

Seeming satisfied if only slightly, the elderly Marquis de Lioncourt quieted at last.

The trio gave a collective quiet sigh as they shuffled out of the room and down the hall.

_Still nervous about sleeping in a coffin?_ Her kind-sounding voice interrupted his train of thought as he rode at her side when they retreated to where Lestat had left the coffins.

He glanced at her to see she had her eyes trained on the bobbing head of blonde in the lead, one silver eye glancing over at him as he rode at her left. _You have no idea_, he mused.

A soft smile formed on her lips as laughter danced in her eyes. _Relax, it's not bad. After a few weeks you'll get used to it. You don't really think on it, actually, when it's time to sleep; it's as if the sleep overcomes you and all the worries you had before succumbing to the darkness seem to fade away. It'll get better once you're more accustomed to it_, she assured gently.

He had to remember to thank her one day for being the mentor that Lestat wasn't. _I'll keep that in mind_. He replied, seeing her nod and smile a little.

::::::::l x l::::::::

Apparently they were getting along better than he had thought.

Aside from the more-selfish reasons for obtaining Louis, the last subconscious reason he had made him into what they were was mainly to keep Ana's hands busy with mentoring Louis with the basics of vampirism.

Of course the one part of his humanity that had yet to die, the vanity that had bloomed brightly and widely to create the selfish evil that he was, the jealousy towards Louis was more vivid.

After almost fifteen years with Ana at his side, Lestat was finding it very hard to not state his keep in regards to the third fledgling he'd created, to even go so far as to have her sleep with him in his coffin the first night Louis had joined them.

Was it possible for vampires to love?

Of course his maker hadn't taught him a thing –he hadn't taught him shit, frankly. So how the hell was he supposed to know if a creature like himself could love someone, especially his own paramour?

The slight anxiety that plagued the newest face to their coven hummed in the balmy air around them, making his lip slightly curl.

Stealing a glance to his beloved paramour, he saw her silver eyes warm and soften up with a quiet chuckle to something her "brother" had said.

Damn her telepathy!

Said male smiled back, the anxiety slowly erasing from his features.  
Well, maybe having her being his mentor wouldn't be all too bad… Less questions to deal with, the vampire figured.

Pushing aside these thoughts for another time, he began to pester the taller vampire about his first kill's eminent victims, pointing out that they were a pack of runaway slaves he had "scouted" prior.

She rolled her eyes at his term. _Scouting or picking them off?_ She wondered, her ears twitching when they arrived at the spot where they all clearly scented the normal scents of weary travelers.

"Take him," he urged the youngest present when one of the men turned from the campfire to relieve himself in the bushes, keeping his voice down and so quiet so that only those present with keen hearing could hear.

"I can't," he hissed back; she inwardly slapped her forehead at realizing he hadn't exactly honed his new skillset just yet… _Merde!_

The man seemed to hear his voice, peering into the darkness, dull human eyes not seeing the trio that hid in the bushes beyond him, calling out in what sounded like French –or rather, patois, if she had to guess—with a knife he'd drawn from his belt.

She began to say something to her blonde companion when noting he'd disappeared from her side; she swore under her breath when said vampire came at the man from behind, pinning his left arm back and gripping him tight. "_Lestat!_" She hissed; another expletive in French was caught between her sharpened teeth as he sank his teeth in and fed, hearing the rest of the runaways coming to their companion's aid.

"You sicken me," he declared when returning shortly before the slaves could see him, gray eyes for his green, ignoring the chest-smack he received from the only female present.

The lust started to hum softly in the back of her mind before roaring in her ears, making her fangs sharpen slightly out of reflex, as her silver eyes shifted to the men that seemed blind to their presence.

"Let me," she whispered to her companions as Lestat began to drag Louis away after one of the men at the back of the group, earning two quizzical looks.

Already sensing the feral vibe radiating from his beloved female, he nodded and kept his grip on the second male's coat as she disappeared into the darkness.

The straggler didn't even see her coming as she leaped from out of the shadows, clamping a hand over his gaping mouth preparing to scream bloody murder as she sank her teeth into his throat, wild mane of jet black hair cascading forward with her swift movement, a soft purr resounding deep in her chest at feeding.

As quickly as she'd attacked, she reeled away before death could touch her fangs, tossing back her mane of hair and nimbly bounding away back to the safety of the darkness.

His green eyes were widened in awe at her swiftness, at the feral intent she had taken the man down with, almost as if he were watching a cat catch a mouse; a small dab of crimson smudged her bottom lip, her beautiful face flushed from the intake of blood, as she tossed her pesky bangs from her face and met his awed green orbs and his smug and slightly aroused gray orbs.

She smirked toothily. "That, _mon cher_, is how it's done."

Lestat smirked back, noting one of the men had turned back to his dead friend's side, gray eyes glinting; he hopped up and passed by her, pulling on her waist gently to lick the smudge of blood from her lip, seeing her roll her eyes, before he went to get the newest victim for Louis.

Ana touched the spot he'd licked with her tongue absently, crossing her arms over her chest as she nodded her head for him to go on. "Try not to fail, love," she urged gently, watching him nod and follow the blonde. She smiled a little to herself at having both showed him how it was done as well as feeding, her fingers playing with the silver lighter she'd drawn from her pocket, tossing it up and down idly as her new sibling took the man's blood, signifying his first kill.

It felt like ages since she'd had her first.

The lighter was tossed and then fell unceremoniously into her palm as the blonde pulled him from the dead man, slapping him out of the hypnotic feeling he'd succumbed to and making him stagger back; she sighed quietly and stepped out from her spot to try and be a peacemaker… "Try" was the word.

"…You'll die if you do that. He'll suck you right down into death with him if you cling to him once he's dead. And now you've drunk too much; you'll be ill." He was ranting annoyedly as the lankier of the two seemed dazed still.

She tsked quietly and went to offer a hand of aid to him, watching him take her hand as she helped him straighten. "He's not lying. We as vampires live close to death, but we are never to touch it. Not once! When the heart is slowing to the point where it stops altogether, that's when you've had enough." She explained patiently, meeting his green eyes. "_Comprendre?_" She asked on a kinder note.

Louis nodded.

::::::::l x l::::::::

"Must you smoke those?" She paused in pulling the cigarette from between her lips when hearing the annoyed edge to his voice, an ear twitching as she tilted her head to meet his slightly irritable stare; she rolled her eyes and pulled the cig from her mouth, sliding off the chair she'd occupied to throw an arm around his shoulders, planting a kiss to his right temple.

Small ashes dropped onto the flattened cards of his solitaire game, earning a look; she smirked and squeezed his neck affectionately. "Temper, temper, Lelio." She teased, releasing him and traipsing back to her seat, blissfully ignoring the growled French expletive he sent after her retreat with a quiet giggle.

"I hate it when you do that." He grated. "That's how you ruined my last deck!"

She leafed to the next page of 'Hamlet', starting on act three. "Don't whine, it'll ruin your gorgeous looks." She scolded absently, absorbing herself in the words. "And for the record, you started it last time by acting like a complete _imbécile." _She tuned out his grumbled words about how Louis would get used to killing as he retreated to his game.

He could swear that she was doing this just to aggravate him… No matter, he'd get back at her soon. Very soon.

Ana was already nearly finished with act four, scene two, when she noted that he was up to something; of what, she hadn't the foggiest. With a resigned sigh, she shut the book, carefully marking her place, and adjusting her leisurely posture of letting her legs dangle over the left arm of the chair with her ankles crossed, sitting forward as he was mumbling something about china glasses. "_Mon dieu_…" She muttered as Louis gave him a cautious look when he said something about 'a trick'. "Lestat…" She lifted a thin brow when he hopped up to shuffle to the gallery that Louis was occupying, reminiscent of a cat seeking its prey with the way he seemed to hunt for something.

Again, she wasn't sure.

A loud squeak sounded from the intended prey he'd snared; she ran her fingers through her hair when noting that it was nothing more than a rat, the hand in her hair sliding down her forehead with a quiet groan as seeing the rat had spooked her sibling.

"Don't be such an idiot," he chided him, bringing the beast forward. "Rats can be quite nice," he added more as a thought.

She pulled another cigarette to her lips, lighting it as he slashed the rat's throat open and poured its blood into the glass. "Spoken like a true tomcat," she hummed, smirking cheekily when he pouted in her direction, showing off the glass filled with rat blood to the reluctant vampire in the candlelight after disposing of the dead vermin.

"You may have to live off rats one day so wipe that stupid look off your face." He added to the slightly irked fledgling. "Rats, chicken, cattle… When traveling by ship, you'd best live off rats unless you cause a scare on the boat so the humans search your coffin; you damn well better keep the ship clean of rats." He stated in that callous tone he was accustomed to hearing, ignoring her as she blew a wisp of smoke out into the air, joining them in the gallery, as he gingerly downed the blood were it burgundy, wincing a little. "It gets cold fast, though… Shame."

"Do you mean that we can live off animals?" Louis asked.

"Yes," he replied, offering the last bit of blood to her before she shook her head and downed it, tossing the glass into the fireplace. "You don't mind, do you? I'd love to hope you don't, because there's nothing much you can do about it if you do mind, now." He smirked sardonically at the expression on his long face.

"I can throw you and your father out of Point du Lac, if I do mind." Louis rebutted, finally showing some temper.

Ana paused in taking another drag, lifting a thin brow.

Lestat smirked. "Why would you do that? You don't know everything yet… do you now?" He taunted, laughing as he walked about the room and paused short of the spinet, running his fingers over the satin part. "Do you play?"

"Don't touch it!" Louis snapped, exasperated, making him laugh again.

"I'll touch it if I like," Lestat smirked widely, sardonically once more, "you don't know, for example, all the ways you can die. And dying now would be such a calamity, wouldn't it?"

"There must be someone else in the world to teach me these things," Louis argued, "certainly you and Ana aren't the only vampires! Your father, he looks at least seventy; you couldn't have been a vampire long, so someone must've instructed you…"

_Fighting a losing battle, mate_, she thought as he pointed out the basics: as far as Louis knew, she and Lestat were the only vampires in the states, in Louisiana in general, and that even if he hated it, Lestat was his teacher and he needed someone to teach him on how to be a proper vampire…

"The three of us sleep in the same room; it's far less risky…"

"Not tonight do we." She smiled to herself at noting he was gaining a backbone. "You two secure the bedroom; I've no intention of sleeping in the same room with you." Louis stated.

Ana rolled her eyes and went to dispose of the dead cigarette on the porch, grinding her heel into the embers as Lestat threatened him to not pull anything stupid, to sleep in the same room… etc.

"He'll cool down by tomorrow." She offered gently when he passed by her to go to the oratory, offering a patient smile.

"I'd love to hope so. Goodnight, Ana." He smiled slightly, the weariness from arguing with Lestat showing more prominently on his pale face, turning to retreat to the oratory with his coffin in tow before dawn would come.

With a sigh, she skulked back inside to help secure the room.

:::::::::l x l::::::::

Lestat was swearing like a sailor when she slipped inside as he yanked the drapes over the windows and she locked the door behind her entrance.

"Something on your mind, tomcat?" She wondered idly as she started unbuttoning her vest and placed her boots by the doorway, shrugging it off and watching him with patience.

He scowled at her when he turned to make sure she was ready for bed, feeling as if a vein was pulsing annoyedly on his temple at seeing the patient expression on her beautiful face. "Between the two of you, I don't know who's worse; that insufferable _imbécile _or you." He grated.

She rolled her eyes and perched on the edge of the unused bed, gesturing he come forward as she helped him undo his necktie and vest. "Well, I wasn't the one who threatened to throw you out of the house with your father in tow, now was I?" She mused, meeting his gray eyes.

He made a face at the truth of her words, lifting his hands to hold hers in his grasp, watching her glance at their clasped hands and smile fondly. "Remind me why you chose me." She wondered quietly.

"Because you were the most beautiful girl present at that dance," he pulled her into his arms, kissing her temple gently and brushing aside locks of slightly-curly black hair from her skin, "because you begged me to make you mine," he kissed her jaw and then the right side of her neck, letting her arms fold on the back of his own neck, hands linking together at the wrist, as he lifted his gaze to lock on hers, "and simply because you made it very impossible for me to not smother in kisses." He smirked teasingly, cupping her left cheek in his hand and kissing her.

Her hands linked at his neck tightened slightly when his lips met hers, reciprocating eagerly and bringing him closer, her legs hooking around his waist as he deepened the kiss and worried on her lower lip, making a soft purr rumble in her chest as she found herself on her back with him towering over her.

Dawn was fast approaching and he hated himself for breaking the hungry spell he held on his favorite paramour, hearing her growl when he pulled away to hover over her on his hands and knees. He smiled slightly, softly, using one hand to trace his thumb over the spot she'd had smudged blood on, blonde hair that hung in his face making him look beautiful as he had that first night they met. "Beautiful death, my Ana." He hummed rather proudly.

She smiled proudly despite herself at his petname, combing her fingers through his thick hair. "Surprised you didn't try and kiss me senseless right then and there when I killed that man," she mused softly.

Lestat chuckled. "You have no idea how badly I wanted to." He smirked again, toothily.

Ana rolled her eyes and laughed softly, sitting up slightly to kiss him again, tenderly, before pushing on his chest to get off and retreat to their coffin. "Knowing the _voyeur_ you are, that doesn't surprise me." She hummed, pulling open the lid.

* * *

**key points**:

* Ana was only 22 when she was "created"/ i'm not entirely sure how old Lestat was when Magnus made him, although i think according to Wiki he was around her age (21-22) so i tried to keep them at the same age.

* although Ana's surname is "von Tristainia", she IS British. Lestat found her in France and they stayed in France for a while at least until he went to take his father from the old castle in Auvergne (not entirely sure when it's specified he goes to retrieve his father, so i don't know what year it was..), therein explaining how she knows French and speaks it fluently (sometimes on the spur of the moment, most of the time out of anger, according to Louis~). her surname is, first and foremost, Hungarian. her parents were Hungarian ethnicity-wise but speak fluent English.

* key phrases/ terms Ana uses that are French:

- **_comprendre_**: "understand (usually used to end a question to see if the person being spoken to understands what you're saying)"  
- **_salaud_**: "bastard/ jerk/ swine/ SOB/ etc."  
- _**imbécile**: _"idiot/ moron/ jerk/ fool/ prat"  
- **_Mon Dieu/ mon dieu_**: "my God/ good Lord"  
- **_voyeur_**: (old French, according to the Free Dictionary) "one who enjoys observing/ is obsessed with watching sexual acts (third person watching two people do it... perverted i know.)"

**hope i covered the bases with my OC. if you have any questions, just message me. drop a review if you like! thanks a mil~.**


	2. Garab

Ana von T belongs to me; i don't own the vamp crew, sad to say.

* * *

'_Hunt the evildoer, spare the innocent_.'

Even though she was yet a century old, this was one thing she had been taught since that first night she'd become a vampire. Lestat taught her that… And even though she would've originally figured it to be total bullocks, the evildoer's blood always tasted good.

So why he wanted to defend that boy was beyond her!

Sure he and Lestat had come to a head for the past few times he contemplated hurting that Freniere boy –strike that, kill him—, but Louis didn't know about the boy… He didn't know why Lestat wanted to kill him.

Or was it that he didn't tell him on purpose?

With a quiet sigh, she pushed the frustrating and headache-inducing thoughts away and focused her attention on the blonde in the lead of their small caravan, gripping the reins of her mare out of reflex.

She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head at feeling the stinging cold rain of mid-winter biting at her cheeks and nose, furrowing her brow.  
If Lestat wasn't so hell-bent on killing the brat, _she_ would, for staging this god-forsaken duel so close to sunrise!

She only prayed that this would be short and that they could return safely back to Pointe du Lac.

Her silver eyes sharpened as she caught the briefest whiff of gunpowder and iron, bristling slightly, glancing to see the two males she'd traveled with still in the same position, the scent coming from the center of the small place the two boys had dueled, the glint of a pistol's nose coming from beneath the supposedly-felled Spanish duelist.

"Freniere, no!" He bolted for the gun and released his maker of his hold.

Having already figured out who the brat was and how far he was from what Louis depicted him as, Ana simply sat there on her horse, letting the rain hit her head as she watched the scene unfold, of Lestat dragging a soon-to-be-dead Freniere brat to his death and an infuriated Louis hot on his heels.

Her mare whinnied softly beneath her; she lowered a hand to pat the side of her neck gently, sighing.  
"Hunt the evildoer, never the innocent."

Both men were angered when they returned, Lestat in the lead with Louis shortly at his heels.

Louis looked to his sibling, vainly wondering why she hadn't stepped in and tried to take his side.

But Ana just met his gaze briefly and then lowered her own, the reins of his horse in hand as she tossed them to him and then nudged the ribs of her mare, gesturing she follow after Lestat's hot-paced flee into the darkness.

::::::::l x l:::::::

He looked over at her as she paused by the doorway of the spinet room, silver eyes briefly scanning the darkness, a lit cigarette held lightly between the middle and index fingers of her left hand, smoke rising softly into the oncoming dawn's atmosphere.

"Don't worry about him, he'll return." He mused blandly, having leafed through her borrowed copy of 'Hamlet', seeing her shift a little so she was turned partially in his direction.

A hollow sigh escaped her. "I know he will; this is his home, not ours. Not really, anyway." She snubbed the dying end of her cigarette into the floorboard, flicking it out the window and closing it, nearing him as he sat at the table.

"Why didn't you stick up for him again? That wasn't like you to just watch." He lifted a blonde brow at her, accepting the embrace and folding his arms around her waist.

She shrugged. "I knew what the boy was, what kind of man he was, just as you knew. Louis knows his family so to have both of us try and talk him out of defending that Freniere brat wouldn't be very fair. Besides, he hated you for it, not me." She explained, shifting so her arms were wrapped around his neck from the side and he had released her waist save one hand that had its fingers holding onto the top hem of her black breeches.

Lestat huffed softly and glanced up at her, smirking. "It never hurts to be evil just once, _ma chere_." He remarked, his attitude calming ever so slightly by having her on his arm and he in hers.

Ana rolled her eyes and fiddled with a lock of tousled blonde hair, smirking back. "Play nice, tomcat." She purred sultrily.

He shook his head softly and sighed. "Come on, it's almost sunrise." He reminded, forcing her arms to release his neck as he straightened from his seat to stand at least five inches taller than his beloved paramour.

She nodded and then made a noise akin to a squeak when he scooped her up from the floor, arms flying to latch onto his neck as he cradled her to his chest and then proceeded to carry her to the room. "Hell-spawn bastard _salaud_-_imbécile…"_ She hissed into his neck, becoming further flustered when he chuckled pleasedly and only smirked down at her with a smug look in his beautiful face.

He set her down once they entered the room, not giving her the chance to smack him for being… well, how he was, as he went about the room securing it and making sure no sunlight could breach them once they were safely inside the coffin.

She unbuttoned her vest in a grumbling angered state, tossing it onto the edge of the bed and turning to scold him for his lewd actions. "You overgrown insufferable…" She began to rant before he pulled her into a kiss; a shiver rolled down her spine as she noted that this kiss was greedy and demanding, much different than it had been the night Louis had slept in the oratory.

Having no choice but to reply, she unbuttoned his vest and pulled it off his shoulders, kissing back hard and conveying the slight frustration she'd harbored while securing the room.

Lestat chuckled again and grinned against her lips, holding her tight against his body as he knotted his fingers in her slightly-dampened black hair.

Ana groaned softly and broke the kiss to hold onto his neck and press her forehead to his, ignoring the pout and slight growl between his teeth at the end of something that had yet to start, watching his shoulders rise and fall with a sigh. "Bed." She reminded gently, seeing him pout again and finding it impossible to not giggle at the expression.

* * *

"You want me gone! You." He sneered in that callous way of his.

She blew out a wisp of smoke into the night air. "This isn't for selfishness, Lestat. He's saying it for our own good." She held his annoyed scowl in her own patient one. "You forget that I can hear their thoughts as clear as a bell." She reminded, furrowing her brow if only a little, "_They know about our kind, their superstitious ilk has taught them just what in hell to do when dealing with one of the un-living_." She continued softly in French, her teeth grinding against the cigarette poised in the right corner of her mouth, her canines threatening to show at the thought.

He scoffed. "I never pegged you to be so willing to leave this place; I thought you liked it here, and yet now you wish to leave all because of a few addle-minded, superstitious _imbéciles,_" he remarked in English.

"I do, I really do. But still…" She sighed. "I don't want any of us to get hurt." She murmured, looking down at the tabletop.

Pretending as if he hadn't heard the last bit of what she said, he returned his attention to the lankier vampire present, "You whining coward of a vampire who prowls the night killing alley cats and rats and staring for hours at candles as if they were people and standing in the rain like a zombie until your clothes are drenched and you smell like old wardrobe trunks in attics and have the look of a baffled idiot at the zoo."

"You've nothing more to tell me, and your insistence on recklessness has endangered the three of us. I might live in that oratory alone while this house fell to ruin. I don't care about it!" Louis rebutted. "But you must have all the things you never had of life and make a junk-shop out of your immortality in which it becomes grotesque among the three of us. Now go look at your father and tell me how long he has to live, for that's how long you have left to stay only if the slaves don't rise against us!"

Ana raised her head slightly, brushing aside locks of slightly wild black hair to meet his green eyes to see his patience was wearing thinner than it had in the past; she held his stare for a moment longer before sliding out of the chair and straightening, snubbing the end of her cigarette out on the sole of her left boot before tossing it out the window as she went down the hall to check on his father without a word.

If he threw him out, would he make her go as well? Or would he ask her to stay…?

Her nose wrinkled and a grimace made the muscles in her lovely face twitch in disgust as she could practically see death hovering over the old man when she quietly slipped inside his room, leaving the door ajar; her brow furrowed softly as she noted he was sweating out another fever, going to the wash basin near his bedside and wringing out the cloth left on the rim of the bowl, noting the water was cool, as she placed it gently on his forehead, doing her best to not wince at the sight of his glassy blinded eyes.

"_You are the woman my son has fondness for, yes; what is your name?_" The Marquis wondered quietly when she pulled away and stood, making her ears twitch at hearing him speak to her in French.

She smiled slightly and nodded. "_Ana, milord_." She answered in a gentle tone, speaking back in the same tongue.

"_I do not think, that I will survive the night… My dear, may I ask a favor of you? From a dying old man?_" He slightly turned his head a little in her direction.  
"_Oui_," she replied quietly.

Death was close to having him at last; it made her lip curl. "_Please take care of him… please look after my son, Lestat_." He pleaded in the same tone.

With an inward shudder she noted that he spoke a lot like her own father, the father she had abandoned fifteen years ago… "_Yes, my lord_." She complied warmly.

Feeling eyes on her, she looked away from the dying old man to see a pair of green eyes hovering near the doorway, a sign he had heard the majority of their conversation while standing there.  
_  
Louis_, she silently acknowledged, quieting and looking back at the old man, brushing locks of wild hair from her cheek. _Louis, I_…

A loud noise came from the spinet room, making both vampires jump, before noting that Lestat had gotten his hands on the spinet again.

She clicked her tongue and scowled as he disappeared down the hall to go slam the lid shut; she exhaled and spared the dying elder one last weak smile before hurrying after her sibling.

"You won't play while he dies!"

"The hell I won't! I'll play the drum if I like!"

She had walked in on both of them, the former slightly livid with annoyance and the latter tapping on a silver platter with a spoon; she rubbed her temples gingerly and sighed. "_**Enough, both of you**!_" She shouted in French, glaring pointedly at the blonde that had briefly paused when hearing her outburst, her hands fisting at her sides.

"Since when did you have sympathy for the dead, Ana mine?" He snorted, smirking slightly at her.

"Since you have a father that is dying, and, in case you haven't noticed, the British have **manners**!" She strode forward to yank the spoon and platter from his hands, glaring still. "While I may not be what I was long ago, I still have respect. Now stop acting like such a _salaud_ git and go see him before he passes on! Or God so help me, I'm locking you out of the bedroom... _and the coffin_." She snarled the last bit frostily in sharp French, her silver eyes like daggers as she put a fisted hand on her right hip and held his stare.

Before he could growl out a nasty rebuttal, they quieted when hearing the old man begin to call for his son, to see him before he died.

Acting like a stern mother, she swung her arm out, pointer finger aimed at the darkened hall leading to his father's room; he glowered at her before storming away in the intended direction, making sure his footsteps were loud enough as he went, her brother at his heels and she traipsing behind him.

"Nice work." Louis praised quietly near her, perking her ears.

"Why should I care for him? I've cared for him all these years; isn't that enough?" Lestat demanded snidely of the duo, seeming ignorant of his father's whines as he perched on the end of the bed and drew his nail file out of his pocket to begin filing his already-perfect nails.

Ana rubbed her temples again and slid her eyes closed, feeling a migraine coming on. "_Mon dieu_…"

Beyond the headache she could sense there was a rising hostility coming, and given that she could read their minds with ease, she knew it was from the slaves around the house.

She would maim him for being such a git!

:::::::l x l:::::::

She looked back at him as she made to follow him to get the horses, pausing and letting him disappear into the stable before she retreated to stand by a tree and keep out of sight as he dealt with the Babette woman.

So long as he didn't get hurt or worse by humans, she would tolerate them; rather, the same went for both men she had lived with for four years plus.

"…Did I do you harm? I came to help you, to give you strength. I thought only of you, when I had no need to think of you at all." Louis was speaking again, trying to reason with her.

The Freniere woman seemed to shake her head.

"But why, why do you talk to me like this? I know what you've done at Pointe du Lac; you've lived there like the devil!" She had to cover her mouth and ward off the urge to utter a snort of derision. "…My husband was there! He saw the bodies of the slaves throughout the orchards, the fields. What are you; why do you speak gently to me! What do you want of me?" She silently thanked God that, while she was only born in the middle class of England, at least she wasn't as much of a backwoods superstitious nutter like Babette… But then again, she was only a human… And a rather rattled one, at best.

Humans were limited in terms of recognizing beings that were more… _evolved_, than them.

"… Believe me when I tell you that I only came to do you good. And, had I the choice, would not have brought worry and burden to you last night for anything!" Louis again.

"I know!" Babette was starting to lose her nerve; she could practically smell it in the air and it made her nose wrinkle, acute hearing catching the step she made on the porch.

Louis sounded exasperated, "alright, then, why did you protect me last night? Why have you come to me alone!"

Her attention was stolen briefly when hearing that her companion had taken their coffins with him to the carriage from the wine cellar, noting that the night was drawing to an end… _Hurry up, Louis_.

"You think I come from the devil?" Louis asked quietly, perking her ears.

Ana almost snorted this time but clamped a hand over her mouth to shut it out; _no, darling, if anyone came from the devil, it would be the creature that created Lestat twenty years ago_. She peeked from around the tree to see the woman had made the sign of the cross; her lips twitched in a slight smirk of derision. _Louis, hurry, before dawn catches us all_, she inwardly beckoned, though her words didn't seem to reach him; she inwardly growled.

"I don't know if I come from the devil or not! I don't know what I am!" Louis' shout made her jump and silver eyes widen slightly; she'd never heard him sound so… non-Louis. "…I am to live to the end of the world and I don't even know what I am!" Oh Louis, darling…

The scent of flames caught her nose as she craned her neck to see the woman had thrown the lit lantern at him, hitting him full-force in the chest.

"Louis!" She bolted forward from the shadows, yanking her coat off to beat at the flames on his clothes, hearing the woman back away by another inch but maintain her observation of what she'd done, Lestat's bark sounding in the distance; smoke rose from his ruined coat and vest as she rounded on the woman, anger surging. "Get away from him, now!" She snarled coldly, baring her fangs.

"Ana, no!" He tried to stop her before she advanced and released a feral snarl from somewhere deep inside her chest, making the woman cower by one of the pillars.

"Don't ever come near him again, you miserable human." She hissed, sharply turning on her heel to flee into the darkness, grabbing him by the scruff and dragging him after her to the carriage waiting for them.

They were reaching the outskirts of town when she looked at him, noting he looked more sullen than normal. "Sorry about that… Someone had to protect you." She ignored the snort from the driver, reaching a hand to grasp his own gently. "Louis?" She whispered.

His green eyes met her silver and she slightly winced at noting he looked more depressed than he had in the past. "Thank you for trying." He replied in the same tone.

She nodded slightly and leaned to rest her cheek against his shoulder, lowering her gaze.

* * *

hope you liked the chap, chapter three is WIP due to the fact that i have another fic i'm slowly trying to finish up. dunno if i should publish it here or not...

if anyone has questions, feel free to either message or drop a review and i'll gladly answer it. thanks for reading and until next time! ^^


	3. Let Us Burn

Ana von T belongs to me; i don't own the vamp crew, sad to say.

* * *

A giggle was heard.

Hand pausing on opening the hotel room door, she halted in stepping into the room, silver eyes staring at the gold-looking knocker as the dim light of the hallway reflected on the surface.

He wasn't seriously…

Opening the door as quietly as possible, she slipped inside and silently took note that the scent of the horrid stink of cheap perfume and wine was in the air: _salaud!_

What in hell?

Silver eyes following the scent to the source, she found the blonde vampire looking like a proud prince with one whore in his lap and the other –she noticed, sat at the table with a glass of wine near her; the one nearest him giggled again and pressed her face into the side of his neck.

She felt a low yowl brewing in the pit of her gut at the scene.

The door slammed shut behind her, making the scene become compromised.

Blinking in slight surprise at her entrance, Lestat grinned happily, cheekily, up at his stone-faced paramour. "Ana, _ma cher_, you were gone so long I worried!" He scolded lightly, slightly high from the wine.

"Good to be back." Ana responded stiffly through clenched teeth, fangs threatening to grow, as her anger boiled beneath the surface; she strode forward into the room to retrieve a book from the bedroom. "_Mon cher_, you started the… fun, without me. What's the occasion?" She asked waspishly when returning with 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in hand, ignoring the whore in his arms and instead focusing her gaze solely on his cheeky gray orbs, valiantly pushing aside the notion of making the whore's heart pop like a tomato while still inside her ribs with a flick of the wrist.

He shrugged, feigning innocence. "No reason whatsoever, dearest darling," he knew she was seething; he could practically see the smoke coming from her ears! "Won't you join us?" He wondered slyly.

She nearly popped a vessel in her forehead. "N…no, thank you. I have other matters to attend to." She whispered frigidly, looking away; her right hand smacked the back of his head hard as she neared the table and pilfered the wine bottle, shooting the bored-looking whore the coldest of glowers when seeing her send her a look, before she tucked the book under her arm and strode out of the parlor to go read on the fainting couch, her boot heels stomping on the floorboards as she went.

There would be hell to pay after he got rid of the whores, that much he knew… Ana always was the hothead.

_I wouldn't go in there if I were you_, he paused in entering the room to see she had perched on the fainting couch, legs stretched and ankles crossed at the flatter end of the furniture, another of his Shakespeare books in hand, a bottle of half-finished wine placed on the floor near the curved arm of the couch where she stared up at him lazily.

Louis peered through the crack in the door to see that the source of the cheap perfume and wine had come from the two whores inside the parlor, grimacing slightly as he figured –the same thing she had already figured and declined politely as well—that were he to go in, Lestat would have him aid in killing the whores; he frowned at the thought.

_I'm surprised they're still alive and there is no blood on your hands_, he remarked as he sat down with her on the end of the couch near her feet she'd moved to let him sit.

Ana snorted softly and her lip curled as they both overheard the whores teasing him, her nails digging into the cover of the book in hand. _You and me both; I would've joined him in killing those two, but I wouldn't have done it for the sick sport he's going by… I would've just killed them for being alive, and in his arms_, she replied, her inward voice catty and highly rattled.

So she really did love him.

_I would imagine he's going to be in a lot of trouble when they've been dispose of_, Louis mused grimly, hearing her chuckle.

Mon cher, _you have no idea_, she grinned darkly, slightly showing a canine. _Are you alright, from the other night? It's been a while since I've seen you two spar like that_, she asked, marking her page and closing the book, looking at him with softened silver eyes.

He smiled slightly at noting that the flush in her cheeks normally obtained through drinking from a fresh kill was beginning to fade into the normal pale pallor of her skin, nodding. _I suppose it has. Thank you again, for doing what you did. It was a miracle he didn't join in and try to hurt her_, he replied.

Ana shrugged innocently and her ears twitched as they both had a feeling he had nearly killed one of the whores, her brow furrowing as she inwardly growled. _I wouldn't allow it, and besides, if Lestat can't be there to explain things, I'll do what I can to fill the job description. Though you were a bit of an idiot to just gawk when she threw the lamp at you. Fire kills vampires, even if they're well over a century, it will do just as much damage as if a newborn were to stand in the sunlight_, she grimaced at the thought and looked away, seeing something in the distance that he wasn't able to see.

_I'll remember that, then_. He nodded slightly.

"Such things you say!" The second whore giggled.

Ana cringed and bared her teeth on reflex, a shiver of anger racing down her spine.

Louis rose from sitting with her to go peek again, watching the spectacle of imagined affections between the vampire and prey, watching as the former at last drank from his prey; she rose from the couch and left her book there, scenting the dying whore with ease, smirking grimly.

"Come in, Louis," he hummed with a proud and smug tone in his voice that made her blood boil further, "I would've arranged an escort for you, but I know what a man you are about choosing your own. Pity Mademoiselle Freniere likes to hurl flaming lanterns. It makes a party unwieldy don't you think; especially for a hotel?" He smiled impishly when the two fledglings came into the parlor.

**_FWHAM_**.

Louis blinked.

In what appeared to be a nano-second, an unseen force had thrown the cheeky blonde into the far wall behind him, his back slamming hard against the wood, making the paintings that adorned the walls tremble and their positions become askew, a look of shock and pain etched into his pale face; he grimaced as he crumpled onto the chair beneath where he had been thrown, his head swimming.

Louis turned slightly to see it was his sibling that had been the cause of the unseen force, watching her lower her right hand so it hung limply at her side, her silver eyes blazing.

Ana was livid.

Before she could do more harm to the vampire, Louis fastened his arms under her shoulders, keeping her at bay even as she yowled and snarled angrily in his grip, kicking at the air and squirming like a very angered cat.

**Well, he had it coming**.

"Y-you…" Lestat rubbed his head gingerly, grimacing before a low growl escaped him as he leaped to his feet to stare at the angered female. "_What in hell was that for, Ana?!_" He bellowed.

Ana spat at his face, her flailing calmed slightly so now Louis had his arms around hers, keeping her from getting at him. "You damn well know what it was for, Lestat!" She fired back hotly. "Insufferable bastard, you deserve a stake in your black heart for toying with my emotions like that, for being such a cruel devil to Louis all this time!" She shouted.

"Don't act like a saint, you're far from it! If you're bothered by it so much, do something about it and stop whining!" He shouted back.

"I'm leaving you," Louis declared to the awkward and tense silence that stood between them, seeming to catch the blonde off guard. "I wish to tell you that now… And Ana may come along if she so wishes." He added quietly, surprising the female in his arms.

Ana slightly looked up at him, silver eyes wide. "L-Louis…" She whispered.

Even though he should've –and would've—yanked her out of his grip and into his own arms, Lestat remained calm as he had intended to before being thrown across the room by her "gift", turning away to tend to the whores, having placed their bodies at the table and propping them up as if they'd fallen asleep, a rather dark sight, gesturing the two sit.

Louis, slightly baffled and sharing in the surprise his sibling wore on her face, complied reluctantly and sat down across from him, Ana stepping away to sit on the sette, a cigarette being rolled between agile fingers before she lit it and sank down quietly.

"I thought as much," he mused to him after acknowledging that she didn't want a drink from the remaining blood left in the whore whose wrist he'd slit and instead offered the second glass to her sibling, sitting back in the chair. "And I thought, as well, that you'd make a big announcement about it; tell me what a monster I am, a vulgar fiend."

Smoke rose in a thin wisp from her cigarette as she scowled slightly, crossing her ankles.

"I make no judgments upon you. I'm not interested in you. I am interested in my own nature now, and I've come to believe I can't trust you to tell me the truth about it. You use knowledge for personal power," Louis replied.

A thin black brow lifted as she noted that, for the first time since Louis had first come into their lives and made their trio a small coven, Lestat was actually listening to him. He was listening!

"Why did you become a vampire?" He blurted out suddenly, perking her ears; she paused in taking a generous drag, glancing at his green orbs that were on the pensive-appearing blonde. "And why into such a vampire as you are? Vengeful and delighting in taking human life even when you have no need! This girl... why did you kill her when one would have done? And why did you frighten her like that before you killed her? Why have you propped her here in some grotesque manner, as if tempting the gods to strike you down for your blasphemy?"

Ana shook her head silently, causing thick wisps of smoke to rise up. _You have no idea, love_, she thought.

Lestat was actually sincere, a side to him she hadn't seen in a long time. "What do you think a vampire is?"

"I don't pretend to know, whereas you pretend to know. What is it?" He rebutted, continuing when not receiving a verbal response, "I know that after leaving you, I shall try to find out. I'll travel the world, if I have to, to find other vampires. I know they must exist; I don't know of any reasons why they shouldn't exist in great numbers. And I'm confident I shall find vampires who have more in common with me than I with you. Vampires who understand knowledge as I do and have used their superior vampire nature to learn secrets of which you don't even dream. If you haven't told me everything, I shall find things out for myself or from them, when I find them."

"Louis!" He shook his head. "You're in love with your mortal nature! You chase after the phantoms of your former self. Freniere, his sister... these are images for you of what you were and what you still long to be. And in your romance with mortal life, you're dead to your vampire nature!"

He was quick to object, "My vampire nature has been for me the greatest adventure of my life; ail that went before it was confused, clouded; I went through mortal life like a blind man groping from solid object to solid object. It was only when I became a vampire that I respected for the first time all of life. I never saw a living, pulsing human being until I was a vampire; I never knew what life was until it ran out in a red gush over my lips, my hands!"

She paused again at noting that there was still breath left in the blonde.  
"She's not dead!" Louis declared, earning a look from her.

"I know, leave her," he replied dismissively, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye as she snubbed the dead cylinder on the sole of her right boot before straightening to toss the bud out the balcony, creating a new gash in the girl's wrist to fill a third glass and offer it to her as she passed by; she took it aimlessly, leaning against the wall by his chair and downing the blood in one gulp before putting the glass on the tabletop. "All that you say makes sense," he added to her quieter sibling, watching her run her tongue over the bottom left canine absently, silver eyes staring away from his curious gray glances. "You are an intellect. I've never been. What I've learned I've learned from listening to men talk, not from books. I never went to school long enough. But I'm not stupid, and you must listen to me because you are in danger. You do not know your vampire nature. You are like an adult who, looking back on his childhood, realizes that he never appreciated it. You cannot, as a man, go back to the nursery and play with your toys, asking for the love and care to be showered on you again simply because now you know their worth. So it is with you and mortal nature. You've given it up; you no longer look 'through a glass darkly'. But you cannot pass back to the world of human warmth with your new eyes."

"I know that well enough!" Louis snapped. "But what is it that is our nature? If I can live from the blood of animals, then why can't I just feed from animals instead of going through the world bringing misery and death to human creatures?"

Ana finally spoke. "Vampires **kill**, Louis." She ignored the rousing of the dying whore, her lip curling out of instinct.

"It's what we were created for, by whatever devil from hell our kind originated from. Though I don't have room to speak in terms of who you fancy, I will only tell you that there are plenty of women out there like that Babette woman. Women like that will only stake you in the heart if you so much as show your face and they figure what you really are. We're not human, Louis! Not you, Lestat, or myself. Our humanity should've died the night we were made into these damnable creatures that we are now. And feeding from animals lesser than humans will not sate your thirst, I guarantee that. Animals are the last resort! Sooner or later you'll understand what it means to truly feed from humans… as we vampires were meant to do from the start of our wretched creation. And when you do, you'll be more in tune with what you are than you have been for the past four years; even if you think things will change when you drink from humans, they won't! Blood will look as red as ever, and the moon will always keep her lonely beauty. Nothing changes that, _mon cher_, no matter what." She smiled sadly in reverence to all that she had known and seen while being in his company, her silver eyes somber.

"That's how you see it, Ana, how the both of you see it!" Louis pointed out, protesting still, even as the sad expression took over her beautiful face and her head shook softly once more at his stubbornness regarding the matter.

Lestat nodded his agreement to her words, eyeing the plain silver band on her left hand's forefinger, the candlelight glinting off the beaten-looking metal surface. "That is the way it is." He declared calmly, looking at his green eyes once more, even as the whore shifted again, a sign she had not been drained completely, a soft hiss in the back of the raven-haired female's throat rising to the surface. "You talk of finding other vampires: vampires are killers! They don't want you or your sensibility, they'll see you coming long before you see them, and they'll see your flaw. Distrusting you, they'll seek to kill you; they'd seek to kill you even if you were like me! They're lone predators that seek companionship no more than cats in the jungle. They're jealous of their secret and their territory; even if you find one or more of them together, it'll be for safety only, and one will be the slave of another as you are to me."

Ana shook her head slightly again, "I'm not your slave." Louis remarked even though he knew that he was, swearing he could hear her inwardly whisper '_don't be so delusional_,' in the back of his head.

"That's how vampires increase, through slavery; how else?" Lestat shrugged, taking the girl's wrist again, hearing her cry out when he cut her wrist once more to fill the glass. "Dearest mine, perhaps it would be wise if you got some fresh air; this will only continue to remain mundane until dawn." He looked up at the fledgling standing nearest him, earning a quizzical look from her.

She crossed her arms and exhaled. "Be quick about it, and get rid of her. If you insist on torturing the bitch, _I'm_ the one who's going to snap her neck in half." She growled at the whore in his grasp, dropping her stance to tousle his hair before obeying and leaving the parlor, keys in hand, as she went to explore the fine city of New Orleans once more with the conversation between the two men she had been in the company of for four years clouding her mind as she hit the streets.

* * *

Both of them were gone when she returned from her walk.

The whores had died at last; she wrinkled her nose at the death stink from their bodies, doing her best to avoid the parlor and bedroom as she went back to the fainting couch where she'd last left her Shakespeare book.

Smoke rose up from her lit cigarette puckered between her lips as she lounged and completed reading act three, scene three.

Ana had barely turned the page to begin reading the fourth act when the boys returned, Lestat in the lead with Louis at his heels; she blinked once in surprise at their hurried pace, hearing them skid to a halt inside the bedroom; she blinked again when catching the scent of death, as well as the scent of…

He had to be joking.

Leaping to her feet, she bolted to the room and skidded to a halt at the threshold to see both men hovering over the soon-to-be-lifeless body of a girl.

_A child!_

The smoke rose up from her burning cig.

* * *

i apologize for the chap being short Dx


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